Classy Christmas
"Classy Christmas" is the fifth Christmas episode of the NBC The Office, aired in the show's seventh season. Synopsis Michael couldn't be happier when Toby takes a leave of absence to go on jury duty for the Scranton Strangler trial, leaving corporate to send Holly (Amy Ryan) to cover for him. Michael forces Pam to plan a second, classier Christmas party on the day Holly returns to Scranton. Michael welcomes Holly back with open arms, but becomes upset when she tells him that she and A.J. have settled in together. Holly then tells the women of the office that she's giving A.J. an ultimatum: that he either proposes by year's end or their relationship is over. Michael lies to Holly and tells her that he's seeing a woman named Tara from New York, and Holly shows curiosity, but Michael interprets this as potential jealousy. When Michael gets further upset over hearing about Holly's relationship with A.J., he takes her toy Woody from Toy Story, a present from A.J., throws it in the trash, and pours his coffee on it. When Holly demands to know who did it, Michael comes forward and admits that he's upset that she didn't want to try a long distance relationship with him yet she's willing to try one with A.J. He also confesses that he planned the (second) Christmas party just for her and then goes back to his office, heartbroken. Holly tries to follow Michael and explain, but Erin prevents her because of Michael's hurt feelings. The rest of the staff (notably Erin and Kevin) look down on her. A.J. arrives in Scranton to surprise her, and Michael welcomes him politely even though he claims to be "dead inside". After cleaning Holly's Woody, he leaves the office and Pam follows him out, where he breaks down. Pam lifts his spirits when she mentions Holly's ultimatum, suggesting their relationship is not going to last very long. He returns to the party where he overhears Holly and A.J. talking about her dirty toy, with Holly fabricating a story to cover for Michael's actions. In addition, when A.J. asked why the office was acting so mean to them, Holly said that it was because of the whole Scranton Strangler incident, which made the office edgy. Darryl is upset that his daughter Jada would rather spend Christmas with her mother than Darryl. Darryl says that she can sit on Santa's lap if she comes to the office party, but Michael had dressed as his own alternative, "classy" version of Santa to impress Holly. Pam and Andy try to find fun activities for Jada but Andy ends up ruining most of them. Darryl then takes her to the break room, where she is impressed with the snacks in the vending machines. They take out the snacks and hand them to employees. When she hands one to Michael, he decides to dress up as Santa again so she can tell him what she wants for Christmas as Holly looks on with admiration. Pam says that Jim always gets her great Christmas gifts so she wants to give him one from her. She creates a hand-drawn comic book about Jim who gets attacked by a radioactive bear and takes its powers. She asks for others' opinions before giving it to Jim, but most of them give her pretty harsh critiques. Jim gives Pam a beautiful bracelet and he is equally amazed at the comic book she gives him. Angela brings her new boyfriend, State Senator Robert Lipton, to the party. Oscar is immediately interested in him and identifies him as gay (but only in a talking-head interview). Later on, Oscar catches Robert casting a furtive glance at Ryan's butt, and looks at the camera knowingly. Erin, continuing with the trend of seeing Michael as her father figure, is not impressed with Holly in person after Michael spoke so highly of her. She tells the cameras that she does not understand why Holly is considered attractive and angrily stands in Holly's way when Holly tries to chase after Michael following his breakdown. Jim agrees to a snowball fight with Dwight after Dwight's dismissive comment about the "dusting" of snow leads Jim to peg him with a snowball. When he is first challenged outside, he eventually finds the doors chained and Dwight emerging from a snowman, throwing multiple snowballs at him and leaving him with a bloody nose. Jim is later caught off guard when Dwight disguises himself as Pam at her desk and hits him with another barrage of snowballs (Dwight reveals he has wigs to impersonate everyone in the office, including Meredith, Kevin and Stanley). Jim tries to get him back by hurling one at Dwight with a lacrosse stick, but ends up breaking a window, after which he is reprimanded by Michael and Holly with Dwight present. After getting tricked again by Dwight with a gift trap (Jim supposedly thought the gift was from Pam), he waves a white flag, but Dwight refuses his surrender unless Jim throws a snowball at Pam's face with Dwight watching, which Jim refuses to do. At the end of the day, Jim is too afraid to go outside, but Pam walks with him. They go out to find multiple snowmen, and Jim attacks them all hoping to find Dwight. Dwight, however, is on the roof of the building, claiming that the most powerful snowball in a snowball fight is fear, and smilingly wishes the camera "Merry Christmas" before the show ends. Availability The episode was included on The Office: Season 7 DVD set in 2011. It is also available on iTunes. See also *"Christmas Party" *"A Benihana Christmas" *"Moroccan Christmas" *"Secret Santa" *"Christmas Wishes" *"Dwight Christmas" External links * The Office Wiki: Classy Christmas Category:Episodes Category:2010 releases Category:Originally aired on NBC Category:Universal Studios